Weekend cooking: Apple butter in the crock pot
Did you notice that cool new button? I got that one from Caite at a lovely shore breeze. Her niece made it and I love it.
As you all probably know by now I am the new owner of a slow cooker and am pretty enthusiastic about it. The other day my mom gave me cooking apples from a relative’s garden and I was looking around for ideas what to do with them. I found this recipe for apple butter in the crock pot. USA-kulinarisch, by the way, is a great site for people in Germany, who are looking for information about US food. It gives you tips on where to order it online, how to convert measurements, how you can substitute products that you can’t find, offers recipes etc.
I am sure you all know apple butter, but I didn’t. I had never heard of it and only a search on the net revealed that it actually IS known in Germany under the name “Apfelkraut” (ugly name, that!). It seems to be more popular, however, in the Netherlands and Belgium.
From the pictures I found on the net apple butter is normally smooth, but mine turned out quite chunky. I suppose I could have used a blender afterwards, but I like chunky, so I left it that way.
Apple butter in the crock pot
Ingredients:
- 1.5kg apples, peeled, cores removed and cut into slices
- 400g sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200ml apple juice or cider
- Fill the crock pot with apples. Mix spices with sugar, add to the apples and mix thoroughly, add apple juice. Cook on “low” for about ten hours. If the apple butter is a bit too liquid , cook a little longer on “high”.
Enjoy!
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads
Image from flickr user stetted, frame N Rowe Janitz
My homemade apple butter is always a bit chunky too — We like it that way, but you can use an immersion blender to smooth it out. I usually cut the sugar a bit because I like it a bit on the tart side. Oh, and it freezes well.
Yours looks lovely — nice color and texture.
I do love Caite’s button!
Beth, I also read that some people add a bit of vinegar to their apple butter to make it more tart. Not sure I would like that, though.
I’m definitely going to try this. I went to an orchard last week and picked up a few butters (peach, apple, pumpkin) in the shop. I’d love to make some myself and use for gifts.
Mary’s last post ..Recipes For Life: My Memories by Linda Evans with Sean Catherine Derek
I gave one jar away to a frien and she was thrilled about it. It does make a nice gift indeed.
I’d like to try this. Thank you!
I’ve heard of apple butter, but have never actually had it. It’s on my list of foods to try!
we’ve a slow cooker and I ve never thought of doing a sweet dish in it great recipe thanks Rikki ,all the best stu
stujallen’s last post ..German Lit Month
Nan, Belle and Stu, yes, this recipe is so easy, you can’t go wrong trying it.
I love apple butter, but have never made it. Wow, I should!
I haven’t made apple butter in quite a few years and never in a slow cooker. I want to try this. I hope mine turns out chunky because I like it that way too. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Margot’s last post ..Book Review: Feeding the Dragon
Between your recipe, and Beth F’s tip that it freezes well, I know what I’ll be doing with my slow cooker next weekend.
Thanks for sharing (we like it a bit “lumpy” as well)
Dawn – She Is Too Fond of Books’s last post ..Book Review: *50 Simple Soups for the Slow Cooker* by Lynn Alley
I used to make apple butter all the time with my mom, we have several apple trees in our yard. I even made it a few years with the kids but have not for about ten years now… a bit of a bummer as I hate to see all the apples go to waste.
I don’t have a crock pot, but that apple butter looks great!
Here is my weekend cooking
http://shelikesbento.blogspot.com/2011/10/weekend-cooking-quick-fix-vegan-by.html
Yum, apple butter! I grew up in a very German area of the US so have long been acquainted with this treat. However, I’ve never made it! This recipe looks very nice, and I’m glad to hear Beth’s tip that it freezes well as I was always worried about the canning aspect of it.
Thanks for the recipe!
Joy also says that Germans used to make it a lot in the US, how strange that we don’t know it in Germany any more – or at least not that well.
This recipe made me curious enough to look up the difference between apple butter and apple sauce, since ingredients seemed identical. Butter version cooks longer, concentrating sugars and giving the buttery texture and deep brown color. Always wondered why my great-grandmother’s “apple sauce” was so different from my efforts years later. She was making apple butter, it turns out. Thanks for throwing some light on family cooking history.
Fay’s last post ..The Food of France – Normandy
How fun, now the mystery is solved.
Sounds wonderful. The people with German heritage around here make it, so I would have thought it to be well-known there! This is one food that I kind of enjoy buying from others, since it’s often being made as we watch in a big iron kettle.
I also find it strange that apple butter seems to be German thing after all, and we don’t know it that well anymore.